PRAYAGRAJ: The special judge (Gangsters Act) on Friday acquitted
underworld don
Om Prakash Srivastava, alias
Babloo Srivastava
, in connection with jewellery businessman
Pankaj Mahindra
's kidnapping for ransom but convicted and awarded sentence to eight other accused in this case, reports Rajesh Kumar Pandey.
Babloo, presently lodged in Bareilly jail, attended the court proceedings through video conferencing.
Once an associate of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, Babloo later turned his enemy. He was caught in Singapore and extradited to India in 1995.
He was wanted in 42 cases involving murder and abduction.
The Pakistan government also accused the gangster of being the 'mastermind' of the Lahore bombing in 2021.
8 others convicted in kidnapping case
On Friday, the special court in Prayagraj also
acquitted
Babloo’s one nephew Sankalp Srivastava in this kidnapping case but convicted another nephew, Vikalp Srivastava, in the same case and sentenced him to six and half years in jail.
While acquitting Babloo and his nephew Sankalp, special judge Vinod Kumar Chaurasia convicted Vikalp Srivastava, Sachchidanand, Mahendra Yadav and Chandra Mohan Yadav and sentenced them to six and half years in jail. The court awarded a five-year term to four other accused in the case.
To recall the case, Pankaj Mahindra, who owned a jewellery shop, was on his way home in Allahabad when he was abducted on September 5, 2015. The family had received a ransom call demanding Rs 10 crore. Later, on September 7, Fatehpur police had arrested four kidnappers from near Sarkandi village on the banks of the Yamuna, and on their information, rescued the jeweller.
Those arrested were Vikalp Srivastava, the nephew of Babloo, and shooters Mahendra Yadav, Sachchidanand Yadav and Chandra Mohan. During interrogation, they revealed that the plan to abduct Mahindra was chalked out during a meeting with Babloo in Bareilly jail.
The don had allegedly arranged the shooters from Gorakhpur. According to the chargesheet, the plan was to send the ransom amount to Babloo through a hawala transaction in Dubai.
On September 30, 2008, the don was given a life term by a special TADA court in Kanpur, in connection with the murder of a customs officer in Prayagraj in 1993.
The investigation of this case was given to the CBI. Initially, the don was lodged in Naini central jail and then on June 11, 1999, he was transferred to the Bareilly central jail.
Later, the don appealed against the court order in the Supreme Court. But the SC turned down his appeal. A mercy petition was filed by the don on June 24, 2021, and is still pending.
English (US) ·